Raikkonen takes early control

Kimi Raikkonen led a Ferrari one-two around the first lap of French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours.

Reigning world champion Raikkonen, who yesterday clinched the 200th pole of Ferrari’s illustrious history, made a clean getaway at the start of the 70-lap race ahead of team-mate Felipe Massa.

The big loser was Renault’s Fernando Alonso, who dropped from third to fifth once the five red lights disappeared – although he managed to pass the BMW Sauber of Robert Kubica to climb back to fourth.

Lewis Hamilton, starting from his lowest grid placing of his F1 career due to a 10-place penalty after running into the back of Raikkonen in Canada, made a superb start as he rose from 13th to 10th.